Friday, June 10, 2005

Being out of work isn't all bad

I've been adjusting my budget since quitting my job. We'll be traveling much less (Cliff is happy about that), but we both enjoy every day on our place.

Mandy and I spent last night in my cabin in the woods. I picked up another tick while there, too... but it wasn't a deer tick. I'm learning to tell the difference, and I'm now saving any tick that bites into me until I know what variety it is.

Mandy is a bit of a party-pooper at the cabin: She would rather go inside the cabin and go to bed than to sit on the porch and enjoy the campfire with me. And she whines at me if I don't join her. Then when 5 AM comes, just as the birds are starting to sing their prettiest songs, she walks all over me on the bed, whining and panting, begging to come back to the house and start her daily activities: you know, important things like rolling in carrion and chewing the neighbor kids' shoes and toys into tiny bits all over our yard. Actually, she has gotten better about chewing things... but worse about rolling in rotten stuff. I don't think dogs ever outgrow that. Her canine friend, Buddy, chases the occasional car; and she's started to join him in that activity, too. This scares me, because there's always the chance of her getting run over.

A really positive thing about my quitting work is that my knees don't hurt. Oh, I can't do any deep-knee bends, or squat without pain, but just walking around pursuing my daily activities no longer bothers me at all. I can get out of bed and walk straight to the bathroom without hobbling for the first several steps. Perhaps I won't have to have knee replacement surgery after all... at least not in the near future. A couple days ago I did the push-mowing for Cliff, on the banks that are too steep to mow with a riding mower. I suffered no ill effects from it.

Another benefit of my being home is that Cliff is steadily losing weight, now that I'm here to cook the right things and supervise his portions. He's lost 21 pounds since May 1.

This is awesome that you have adjusted well to not working. Standing less, I'm sure helps. I think you have been traveling more though....LOL ----by horse! And of course we all enjoy those pics you take and things you are blessed to see along the way.Tugie loves to roll in stuff too. They have to wear their souvenirs to show all the other animals where they have been. LOL!

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Hello there!

I kept a journal on AOL for over four years. AOL decided to get rid of journals, so I transferred my memories from there to Blogspot. I don't intend to add to this site, except perhaps to add some pictures that were lost in the transfer; I'm keeping it for the memories: memories of babysitting my granddaughters; of my long-gone dog, Mandy; of nights spent at the cabin; of vacations and motorcycles bought and sold.